Mood Board Analysis: Social Realism Films

Social realist films focus on modern issues within today’s society. Controversial issues which always spark a debate about the film.  For example, issues in Adulthood such as knife and gun crime, violence and sexual acts are all common features of a social realist film however the issues always spark a riot as there's always moral panic over the imitable behaviour it may cause.

 All of the film posters on my mood board are desaturated which I believe gives a small insight into the story of the film together with the image. Compared to a Disney film which has saturated bright colours.

 The social realism genre is also known for its casting of unknown actors such as Kate Jarvis from Fish Tank. Social realist films are all very similar as they mainly explore the same issues, this is why they are targeted at such a niche audience.

As you can see there are similarities between the “This Is England” poster and the “Adulthood” poster. They both show groups of people who  are the main characters in  the movie.

However there some differences in  the two posters as the Adulthood one focus’ on  the youth in  the film whereas the This is England one focus’ on the characters of all ages. This is also one of the main differences between social  realism films set in the 80’s and ones set in  the present day.

There are also similarities in with the “Fish Tank”, “This is England”, “Shifty” and “Bullet Boy” posters.  As you can see they all  feature some quotes showing off their critical success. Critical success is vital to social realism films as that is where most of their success comes from as they do not usually do as well with commercial success. However, Slumdog Millionaire is a rare example, of a British social realism film from the UK that has been both critically and commercially successful.

A reason why Slumdog Millionaire may have been so commercially successful may have been because it has a happy ending and makes the audience feel good. Another season it may have been successful could be because it is a hybrid film (Drama, Thriller, Romance)

Created by Kortney Hudson